


To the Grave and Back

by DarthSuki



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: DFAB reader, F/M, Fluff, Parenthood, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 08:03:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15769962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthSuki/pseuds/DarthSuki
Summary: You and Benny have been a thing for a while now, having helped him overthrow Mr. House and get a hand on New Vegas. Things have been good, almost rather domestic, but when you find out you're pregnant....well, you're not entirely sure how Benny will take the news.





	To the Grave and Back

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for and with the support of fans on my Fallout writing blog! If you'd like to submit a request or check out my drabble and headcanon writing, [go over there and check it out!](https://falloutwritings.tumblr.com/)

You were sure that the test was wrong. You used not one, but three of them in all to solidify the seeming truth it was telling you: pregnant. You were....pregnant.

Pregnant. The world felt odd to connect to yourself, but it was true all the same--you payed a pretty cap for the tests themselves after all, having to go through several people to find someone with enough chemical know-how to make them for you. There was no way that three separate tests could be wrong about it all: you were pregnant.

After coming to terms with the revelation, the next wave of emotion that filled your head was one-noted, but powerful. What would your partner think?

It was hard to put a finger on any concrete end--you and Benny had been together for years now, lived through an overthrow of Mr. House, a revitalization of New Vegas and, while neither of you spoke much of it anymore, a several-month period where the two of you absolutely loathed one another when, well, he had tried to kill you for the platinum chip.

Suffice to say, you could trust Benny to react well to the news as much as you could worry for his bitter shock--neither of you were trying to have a kid, but it you weren’t not trying either; sex was a very constant, exciting, satisfying activity between you both.

“Fuck,” Is all you can whisper to yourself as you stare down at the test, a bit of cloth affixed to a flat stick of metal. On one end of the strip of white cloth, one end blotchy with a dull pink color.

You spared a glance to your pipboy’s clock as you cleaned yourself up and paced about the apartment.

At least Benny would be back in a few hours.

* * *

 

The sound of the doors caught your attention, the soft noise, but was almost like a siren to your ears--years of wandering the wastes did plenty to sharpen one’s perception, and no amount of comfort could take that away from you.

At least it didn’t send you scrabbling to get to your feet and grab for a weapon anymore.

Regardless, Benny’s voice filled the air as he saw you on the couch, a book opened up that you’d been attempting to read for the last hour or so.

“I tell ya babe, I don’t think I’ll ever get my head wrapped around seein’ ya here when I get done dealin’ with casino shit downstairs.”

You offer him a raised brow, amusement still lacing through the expression despite your nerves being as sharp as they are.

“Until you try to off me a second time, I’m not going anywhere Benny,” You turned a page of the book, hoping your facade of casual conversation seemed good enough not to pique his curiosity. “And we all know who’d walk out of that two-way gunshow.”

Benny laughed, and the sound was genuine as he settled down beside you on the half-dingy couch.

“Doin’ my best to stay on your good side after all,” He said, following up with a long, tired sigh. “We got a bunch of new fish in the Tops, thinkin’ they were smart or somethin’ this morning. Been dealin’ with them all day.”

“Were they trying to steal something?”

Benny let out an amused huff.

“That woulda’ made my life easier, baby, but no. These buncha losers come stridin’ into the casino--like, five of them--and they start playin’ the slots and tables like they own the whole joint.”

He took a breath and gently coaxed you closer to him, one arm wrapping loosely around your shoulders.

“At first we figured they’re just some freesiders, maybe even some drifters from somewhere outta town, ‘ya know? But then some of my boys, they start seein’ this funny little pattern in how they’re playing, how they’re winning just a little too much. We had to watch those damn finks for a long time to figure out how the hell they were seducing lady luck and, come to find out it’s some play by one of our own-”

He tugs you a little closer still, enough to tip his head to the side and lean it against your own.

“-I guess Sammy thought it would be a damn fine idea to betray his entire family to a buncha’ lowlives. Story short: they’re gone, Sammy’s definitely gone, and I finally get to spend some time with my favorite platinum gal. The thought’s been keepin’ me going all day, baby.”

The compliment is smooth on Benny’s lips, his voice just enough to bring a flush of heat to your cheeks--you’ll never get over the way the man could flirt, could weave words in just the right way; once an annoyance and now, almost stupidly, it’s something you’ve grown fond of.

But.

You stiffen as your thoughts race for a bit, trying to figure out the best way to break the news to him (you can’t exactly hide it, no point in it anyway). You don’t get all that much time to think however, as the man seems to notice after a few moments.

“Somethin’ eating away in that pretty head a’ yours?” he asks gently. “I promise, ain’t nobody in that group ever even considerin’ going within a rifle shot towards the Tops again.”

“No,” You begin. “Wait--no, yes--yes.”

“Gotta be a bit more specific what you’re sayin’ yes to, doll.”

That’s when you moved, pulling away from Benny so you could look at him more clearly--you wanted to see his face when you broke the news, confident more in the subtle queues you’d get from him than anything else.

You loved Benny for all you could, but the man was sly by nature and had a poker face to mach the best of them--you wanted to catch even the slightest notion of distaste.

“Uh, baby? I don’t know what’s bothering ya’, but I’m sure that--”

“I’m pregnant.”

The room fell silent. Eerily silent. So quiet that you could hear your heart slamming at your chest, the blood pumping in your ears. You watched the man’s face for a sign, a twitch, anything that might give away how he really feels before he can try to scrub it away with words and sly smiles.

But you see nothing. He just stares at you, almost like the way a Gecko looked at you when you came abruptly upon a nest, staring blankly while you stared back before the thoughts caught up with you to pull out your rifle and take the easy shot.

“Well,” Benny finally said, clearing his throat once, twice, taking in a breath and then letting out a sigh. “That’s ah--are you sure? You checked?”

“Three times.”

“With?”

“A test I got from the Followers--did a couple errands for them and paid some caps in return--don’t look at me like that, I didn’t murder a man or anything like that. One of them happens to be a real whiz with chemicals and knew enough to make ‘em for me.”

Benny hummed, pursed his lips and weight the information with mild interest, though you wren’t sure whether it was to the fact that a Follower knew how to make a pregnancy test or the actual fact that you were pregnant.

In fact, he didn’t seem about ready to say anything on that particular detail; he just sat there, deep in thought of some sort, fingers steepled in front of his face and elbows set on his knees.

“Benny.”

Nothing; he didn’t even glance your way.

“Benny.”

That’s when he finally perked up, turning eyes your way with a surprisingly gentle expression across his face.

“Yeah doll?”

You felt about surprised as you must have looked, trying to figure out what this man was playing at.

“I’m....pregnant? This is like, a big deal. I sorta want to know your response on this.”

When Benny laughed, it took you even further for a spin, but you knew well enough of the man to know when he was mocking someone--this laugh sounded sweet, the kind that he’d make when he did something stupid, so stupid, and it took you to point it out to him to realize it.

“Ah damn, I’m sorry,” he reached a hand to scratch at the back of his head. “I was just thinkin’ about all the stuff we’ll need for the kid. I’d prolly need t’work with some people, you know, to get it all--and not some old scavenged shit either, I mean good supplies and--fuck--I’m gonna be a dad?”

Calm, then focused, worried, and finally landing on a moment of genuine vulnerability. It was interesting to see Benny look like that, so open with the flash of fear on his face even if he covered it up as quick as could be. Regardless, that was more than you could have asked of him and, honestly, it made you feel a little excited about it all.

“You’re.....not mad or anything, right?”

You wanted to confirm it, to hear it from his mouth so you weren’t running off assumptions and misunderstandings.

“Mad? Hell, doll, this is--....this is the most ring-a-ding thing I’ve had happen to me! I, er--besides meeting you, but that first encounter was a bit rigged in ways neither of us coulda’ predicted.”

He takes in a slow, deep breath and lets it out all the same.

“A kid? In the Tops? Damn, I don’t think any of the Chairmen have had their own kids since movin’ into New Vegas--right time as ever, we’re not any ragtag tribal group anymore and, ya’ know, this proves that we’re makin’ our own here in Vegas--makin’ a life for everything instead a’ just surviving out there in the Mojave. I--”

That’s when the man seemed to realize he was rambling, answering far more than the simple, single question you’d posed to him. He looked vulnerable again, bashful, a tinge of pink on his cheeks, but Benny covered it up quickly with a grin in your direction.

“Baby, you’re my partner-in-crime, my platinum chick, my-”

A single look from you kept him from continuing with the old world pet names, which you knew he could do for long enough already. He shrugged, as if unashamed to admit it all and thensome.

“You’re my courier, baby. Don’t think I could ask for anyone else to raise a Benny Jr. with in the entire Mojave--no, not even in the entire wasteland.”

His head tilted to the side, just slightly, and a half-grin pulled at his lips as he said in a gentler, softer tone,

“I love you to the grave and back.”


End file.
